Help with harness

[kellyk]

I am needing help picking out a harness, I am looking at Country Carriage Beta Bi Harness or the Driving Essentials Mini Synthetic Harness or Ozark Mountian Carriage Harness. I have always had leather but I like the idea of cleaning the synthetic. What do you all have and are there any recomendations?

On the Driving Essentials they also offer the upgrade to Mini Select with a shaped breastcollar and buckle in traces? The Ozark Carriage also has buckle in traces.....What would the advantage be?

Thanks for your help and if anyone knows of a club or group in Arkansas that has CDE's please let me know.

Kelly

 

[TMR]

I will give you my reviews based on what I deal with in CDE's. Of the three harnesses listed and if you are planning on doing CDE's, I would recommend the Country Carriage Beta bi harness. I have seen all three of these harnesses and chose the Country Carriage Beta Bi myself. It is a very classy harness that gets good scores in turnout and sturdy enough to handle an intense marathon. The highlights of the harness is ample padding, the saddle has a tree and tons of adjustablility. The Driving Essentials harness just doesn't have the classiness, but did seem durable. The Ozark I found was more suited for carriage pleasure shows as opposed to CDE's. It didn't have much on the way of padding, no tree in the saddle (if I remember correctly) and single neck straps. Any of the three would be good for beginner/training level, but if you have any thoughts on moving up the levels I would highly recommend the Country Carriages harness and if money isn't an issue go with the Deluxe model,(which is what I have)extra padding down the sides of the saddle and fancier bridle.

Now you didn't mention the Comfy Fit Harness, but I would also recommend it. I have several Comfy Fit harnesses both pair and single. I think the BetaBi is a little nicer for turnout, but is also a bit higher in price. If you are fitting a mini/VSE I would definitely get the shaped breastcollar and always buckle in traces. The shaped breast collar allows for more freedom on the shoulders and the buckle in traces allow for more adjustability. I have found that as traces go on the smaller ponies, those closer holes on the breastcollar end allow a better fit than the slots on the rear of the traces. I think the rear slots are @ 2" apart where the holes at the breastcollar are half an inch or so. On a smaller pony, 1" can matter alot. When you are doing a marathon obstacle at a full gallop you want the harness fitted as perfect as you can.

Hope this helps some, it is just my opinion and again I do mainly CDE's (hopefully moving up to Intermediate at the end of the year) so based my harness reviews on that. I think most of the harnesses are within $100 of each other so you will have to choose what works for what you want to do. I knew that I wanted to move up the levels and wanted a harness that would be able to handle it.

 

[CZP1]

I have the leather Driving Essentials one and it is the step fancier one not the basic, I have had it for 6 years and it still looks great. I did see the beta one at their shop and honestly it is beautiful like the leather one. I had the Country Carriages Beta and though I loved the easy care of the harness, it just didn't fit like my leather one. I guess I am old school and like leather harnesses. Either shops are great to deal with for fitting and changing out the harness if it doesn't fit properly ie: the brow band, or bridle off the rack perse. They both have gone above and beyond for making the customer happy! Hope that helps.

 

[rbrown]

I wasn't a huge fan of the Ozark Carriage Harness- used it for one summer and then sold it. The saddle just wasn't fitting either of my minis and I wanted a more substantial harness for CDEs and trail driving. I have bought parts from Country Carriages and everything was very high-quality, and Claudette is very nice to work with. I've heard very good things about their deluxe beta-bi harness.

I agree with TMR about the shaped breastcollars- I noticed a huge difference with my girls when I switched from regular, straight breastcollars. I'm also a big fan of the sliding backband saddle for driving over uneven surfaces. Both of my girls have Camptown harnesses now, and I really like them. I've also heard very good things about Comfy Fit harnesses for CDE use.

 

[kellyk]

Thanks, I think I'll go with Country Carriage, seems alot of people have one from them, I cant find any CDE's around here but I want to leave my options open, our club only offers open driving and roadster classes. I dont much care for halter so I am looking for some driving club. Thanks for the tipe on the collar too, I haev a pleasure harness and it has just a straight collar and the other looks better!

Thanks for the replys

Kelly

 

[Equine Events]

I had a custom made harness at Carriage Driving Essentials in CA. Celine is super knowledgeable and I got it pretty quickly. A few things needed changes and that was done no questions asked and quickly. She carriaes many style and brands all custom made to fit your pony. I would not buy one off the rack because mini's sizes vary so much.